The fire at Donaghadee Lighthouse 1900

The video of Donaghadee lighthouse below was made by a very talented guy called Nick who does a lot of short maritime features. The channel is on YouTube and is called Irelandscapes.

N Ireland Donaghadee Lighthouse - Relaxing Landscape Scenery

I have spent years omitting the second 'a' of Donaghadee and turning it into a three-syllable words instead of four, possibly due to the fact that I never heard anybody saying the name. I have no idea how it began but I am now very self-conscious of it and finally realise why there was so little on t'internet about this lighthouse in county Down - I'd been spelling it wrong on the search engines.

Donaghadee harbour is very old, dating back to the 1600s and for many years it flourished due to the sea route to Portpatrick in Scotland, a mere 22 miles. The major drawback of this route was lack of railway facilities at either port and ironically, the construction of these two railways coincided more or less with Larne - Stranraer replacing Donaghadee - Portpatrick as the preferred ferry route.

A new harbour designed by the celebrated engineer John Rennie was constructed in the 1820s. The lighthouse at the end of the pier was established in 1836, as per the Notice to Mariners above. It was unpainted and constructed of cut Anglesey limestone  - hence the light-grey colour - and in the 1860s acquired a black plinth. A nearby cottage for the use of the lightkeeper did not materialise until 1864, the Ballast Board renting a house in the town instead.

As can be seen from John Rennie's plans above, the tower contained four storeys, not including the lantern and from the very start the lighthouse featured those quite unique horizontal grooves, for which, I am sure, there is a more technical term.

A remarkable painting of Donaghadee Harbour from the 1830s when both it and the lighthouse were brand new. The bridge in the foreground was a temporary arrangement for workmen while the north pier was being built. Below, the slate-grey lighthouse detail from the above painting. Picture courtesy the Donaghadee Historical Society

At around 6am, one of the coastguards on duty noticed a flame suddenly flash up the dome of the lighthouse, followed by a loud noise. He went to fetch his commanding officer, Samuel Pearce, by which time the whole of the top floors were engulfed in flames and smoke. Pearce took two of his colleagues and ran to the lighthouse where they were joined by several coalworkers engaged on the pier. Unfortunately, the only fire-fighting apparatus they had were zinc buckets which were practically useless. The men dared not enter the building for fear of burning debris raining down on top of them and they had no means of getting above the fire to pour water down on top of it.

Given a free rein, and bolstered by the escape of oil from the tank used to supply the lamp, the fire raged gleefully. The landing below to the dome (which had been completely destroyed in the initial explosion) soon had all its interior wrecked. The fire then skipped down the stairs to the second landing and destroyed everything there bar the walls.

When the third landing was being ravaged, Mr. Pearce somehow managed to get up to the lantern and a chain of willing bucket passers meant that he could now attack the fire from above. In less than an hour from the lantern being reached, the fire was quenched, although it was well over four hours since the initial explosion, a salutary lesson to the people of Donaghadee that perhaps they needed to invest in a fire service.

That night, and for a few months afterwards, a ship's lantern  - reputably as bright as that of the lighthouse was used as a temporary replacement until the new lantern and light were ready to go in October. 

Lightkeeper Matthew Healy remained in his post during the refurbishments until he was transferred away in early 1904. For a time, thereafter, the light was managed by the keepers on relief from Mew Island who lived ashore in Donaghadee. 

A Mr. Kennedy, described as 'the lightkeeper at Donagahdee had a narrow escape when he lost control of his bike coming down New Street, shot over the Parade and crashed into the sea wall, over which he was propelled onto the sand fourteen feet below.

By 1911, Sligo man James Corish was the lightkeeper.

Donaghadee lighthouse was the first in the country to switch to the new-fangled electric light in October 1934, with the keeper being withdrawn at the same time.